Bound To the Fire Nation
by ShipperForLife11
Summary: Zuko takes Katara as his prisoner...  But what happens when he tries to make her his slave?  Will both their worlds collapse?  Or will they come together as one?  Starts out during 'Bato of the Water Tribe.'  And yes.  There will be Zutara.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Okay. So, this is first and foremost a challenge. t-rex987 sent me a message the other day asking if I could write a fic where Katara is taken to the fire nation and becomes Zuko's slave. So, that is where this fic is heading. There are a couple of other conditions that I have yet to fulfill, but I will include them as the story goes on as well. This chapter is pretty much just an introductory chapter, and the real story will most likely start within the next couple of chapters. This is very different than the other fics that I have written, and I hope you guys leave feedback to let me know what I can improve on. Just to let you know, this chapter takes place during the episode 'Bato of the Water Tribe,' and it has a _very_ different ending than the one in the episode. And I'm rating this 'T' just to be safe. Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy it!

Disclaimer: I have absolutely NO rights to Avatar: The Last Airbender. If you don't believe me, than that's fine! But I am in fact telling the truth. I have learned the hard way that telling lies gets you nowhere. NOW ON WITH THE STORY!

Bound to the Fire Nation

Iroh gave his nephew a fleeting look after seeing a limp body being flung out of the earth kingdom tavern. "Nephew, are you sure that this is the right pla— " Iroh began to say before being cut off by his nephew walking into the tavern with a cruel demeanor, and then making his way through the crowd.

"Out of my way! Step aside filth!" Zuko shouted as he pushed person after person out of his way so he could reach June as quickly as possible. Zuko had been in places like this before, and he knew that being agreeable was not going to cut it.

He was barely able to restrain himself from rolling his eyes when his uncle said, "He means no offense! I am certain you bathe regularly!" He had half a mind to turn around and tell his uncle that he needed to put some fear in people so that they would be respected, but he had already reached the center of the bar.

Right smack dab in the middle of everything was June. Naturally, she wasn't doing anything that normal women would have done. She was actually arm wrestling someone who appeared to be an earth kingdom commoner, and she was actually winning. Following his own advice, he quickly and rudely said, "I need to talk to you!"

Throwing him and Iroh a quick glance, she quickly answered so that she could focus all of her attention on beating the sweaty peasant whom she was arm wrestling. "Well, if it isn't my new friends. Angry Boy and Uncle Lazy," June said as she turned her head back to her intense game.

Iroh let out a hearty laugh as Jun let out a breath and slammed the man's fist into the table. There was a sudden cacophony of cheers in the bar which was rather loud in the first place.

Zuko gritted his teeth. He didn't have time for foolish games. He needed the avatar, and he wasn't willing to waste any more time by watching bounty hunters like June gamble away their salaries. He could feel a puff of fire threatening to escape his nostrils, but managed to keep his temper reasonably in check.

"Your beast trashed my ship. You have to pay me back!" Zuko said to June in a relatively harsh tone of voice. Around him, the seedy earth kingdom residents were grumbling while throwing extremely large amounts of money onto the table in front of June as well as all around her.

June began to gather up the money on the table in her arms as she said, "Awwww…I'd love to help you out, but I'm a little short on money." She looked up at Zuko and his uncle and then continued on by saying, "DRINKS ON ME!"

June reached for her cup of tea and was about to put it to her lip when Zuko grabbed her arm and growled, "Money isn't what I had in mind."  
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They had walked out of the bar and into the little courtyard right outside of it. Zuko pulled a dark blue necklace with a beautifully carved pendant attached to a little gold clasp that was on a silky strand of navy blue ribbon. Zuko held it up so that Jun could see, and said, "I need you to find someone."

June leaned over and then straightened back up. She looked like she was about to burst out laughing, and this only rekindled Zuko's previous anger.

"What happened? Your girlfriend run off on you?" Jun said sarcastically.

"It's not the girl I'm after. It's the bald monk she's travelling with," Zuko responded coolly.

June smiled mischievously and quietly said, "Whatever you say…"

Zuko really wanted to knock her upside the head at this point because she was assuming things that were absolute lies. He wouldn't of course—not with his uncle there at least. He continued the conversation though, despite his frustration with June.

"If you find them, I'll consider the damage to my ship paid for," Zuko said in a tone that was almost menacing.

June barked out a curt laugh and then said, "Forget it." She started to climb up the Shirshu's back, and Zuko was really starting to lose his temper now. Even though he may not have shown it, his uncle knew that he was getting frustrated.

So, naturally, he stepped in on Zuko's behalf and made an offer to June so that Zuko wouldn't do anything rash. "Plus we'll pay your weight in gold!" Iroh said cheerfully.

June smiled and got off the Shirshu within seconds. "Make it your weight, and we got a deal," she said cunningly.

Iroh let out a hearty laugh. Once he was in control of his diaphragm once again, he said. "You got it!"

"Get on!" June ordered as she snatched the necklace from Zuko's clenched fist. They quickly did as they were told while June held up the necklace in front of the Shirshu's nose. After the Shirshu's mouth began to salivate, June gracefully jumped onto the Shirshu, and tugged the reigns. There was a harsh tug on all of their bodies as the Shirshu took off into the night.

They had been travelling for a few solid hours when they came across a village that appeared to have only one resident awake at the early hour. She had long white hair, and she looked as though she was a herbalist.

"Out for a bit of fresh air, are we?" the herbalist asked the young travelers.

Zuko didn't have time for this either. "We're looking for someone!" he snapped severely.

"I hope it's not Miyuki!" the herbalist said as though she were actually worried. "Miyuki… Did you get in trouble with the Fire Nation again?" she asked the white cat.

The cat meowed and then backed away in fear of the giant Shirshu. The woman looked down at the cat for a moment and then glanced back up at Zuko and his traveling companions.

June looked down at the herbalist and then said, "The Avatar's been through here. Let's keep moving!" She picked up her whip and thrust it back down at the Shirshu. The animal gave a mighty lurch, and they were off again as though nothing had happened.

A few hours later, they arrived at Makapu Village. The Shirshu rushed through the entrance of the village and forced some of the residents to run. The Shirshu jumped on top of a nearby building and then paused when they came to a fortune telling parlor with an old woman standing outside the entrance.

Zuko looked down at the woman, and then asked June, "Why are we stopping?"

June answered without hesitation. "Because the girl must have spent a lot of time here," she said with a smirk in her voice.

"We have no time for this!" Zuko said, clearly annoyed. He glanced at June, and when he saw that she had the necklace, he swiftly lurched forward and grabbed it out of her hand.

He then leapt off of the Shirshu and went in front of the giant animal and held the necklace next to its nose. The Shirshu sniffed at it, and then began to stand up on its hind legs.

Zuko felt a moment of shock consume his features, and then ducked right before the Shirshu struck a paralyzing blow to his chest. "HEY! Watch it!" Zuko snapped at the beast that had just tried to injure him.

Iroh let out a somewhat loud string of laughter while June sarcastically said, "Oh look, he likes you!"

The old woman standing outside the building looked up at Iroh and then spoke. "Care to hear your fortune, handsome?" she asked the retired general.

"At my age, there is only really one big surprise left. And I'd just as soon leave it a mystery," Iroh said. Meanwhile, June picked up her whip again, and forced it back down on the Shirshu's tough skin.

This time, the Shirshu actually did stand up on its hind legs, and then took off in the direction of the young water tribe peasant.

Zuko was beginning to grow a bit tired. They had been travelling for half the day and they still hadn't found the avatar.

His face was set into what seemed to be an unchangeable scowl when the Shirshu came across a wooden door, and slammed against it with a lot of power.

The animal entered a quaint little town square where there were some women making and bottling perfumes.

The animal sniffed around for a moment or two, and then jerked towards an exit out of the town. June pulled the reins so that she could talk to Zuko and Iroh.

"We're getting close," she said confidently. Iroh smiled while Zuko's face remained in a scowl. June didn't hesitate to pick up her whip and strike her pet again. The Shirshu took off again for what Zuko hoped to be the last time.

Just a couple of minutes after they had last stopped, the Shirshu was beginning to become extremely twitchy.

Iroh gave Zuko a gentle nudge and a smile that only an uncle could give.

The corner of Zuko's lips twitched. That man had a tendency of getting through the wall he had so carefully built to exclude others from knowing and controlling his feelings.

Then, they came to a clear path, and sure enough, the water tribe girl was there.

The Shirshu quickly cornered the water tribe peasant and her brother. After the Shirshu had stopped moving, June spoke up. "So this is your girlfriend. No wonder she left. She's way too pretty for you."

While she was talking, Zuko jumped off the Shirshu, and leapt to the ground. "Where is he? Where's the avatar?"

The idiotic water tribe boy answered him. "We split up. He's long gone." The girl was far less rigid. She actually looked rather frightened.

But Zuko spent little time thinking about the girl's feelings. He knew they were probably just trying to distract him so he wouldn't be able to find the avatar. "How stupid do you think I am?" Zuko asked the boy.

"Pretty stupid," he answered. Then he grabbed his sister's hand while shouting, "RUN!"

They made a reasonable attempt at escape, but the Shirshu was faster. The animal had shot out it's tongue and paralyzed them before they had even seen it coming. They fell flat on their faces and Zuko took a step towards them.

"Well Nephew, what do you suggest we do now?" Iroh asked Zuko.

Zuko paused for a moment and thought about what he could do. He could of course have the Shirshu look for Aang's scent, or he could resort to his more...ruthless tendencies.

Zuko looked back down at the two water tribe children and decided what he wanted to do with the two of them.

Zuko hesitated a moment before telling his uncle and June what he was going to do.

"Uncle, is it possible to have the water tribe peasant tied up and taken to a nearby village?" Zuko asked his uncle slowly. 

His uncle cleared his throat. "I suppose that's possible, but are you sure yo-" his uncle started.

However, he was cut off by his nephew quietly saying, "Yes uncle. Please have the girl taken back to my ship. Now that I think about it, the other peasant can be left here untied. Chances are he will be able to survive without his little party, and we'll be long gone by the time he's no longer paralyzed," Zuko said. Then, he turned to face June. "If you want to be paid, take us back to my ship. We won't pay you otherwise," Zuko said defiantly.

Jun looked as though she really didn't want to comply, but she agreed. "Fine. I'll take you to your boat. Where is it exactly?" she asked Zuko shamelessly.

"It's docked at the same place as it was before. Now, I don't have all day, so would you please get that beast of yours ready?" Zuko asked heatedly.

"No need to be so assertive Prince Pouty. I already said I would take you, correct?" June asked sardonically. Zuko gave a curt nod.

"Then you have nothing to worry about. I'm not going to ditch you or anything," June said lightly. "Now get on," she commanded.

Zuko grabbed Katara by the back of her dress and pulled her up the side of the Shirshu. He and his uncle also jumped on, and were ready to go back to their ship.

June gave her Shirshu one last whip, and they went off to face whatever destiny had in store for them.

A/N: Well, there it is! I hope you guys liked it! I hope to post the next chapter soon (preferably next Saturday), but it all depends on the amount of work I get at school this week! Peace out peeps! Have a wonderful week!


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Hello readers! Sorry it's taken me so long to update, but I've had lots of work to do as well as a MAJOR case of writer's block. However, I should be able to update more quickly now because I took a little bit of time to come up with a general idea of what is going to happen throughout the story. SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO… Here it is! I'm still working on incorporating the things included in the challenge to this story, but they will come. Hopefully VERY soon. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar: The Last Airbender or any of its characters or ideas. They all belong to Bryke. *sigh* Zutara is too complex for those two creators… It's rather unfortunate.

"Take her to the brig!" Zuko shouted as he got off the Shirshu. "I'll take care of getting the ship started," the prince said.

Katara looked over at her captor. Just looking at the spoiled teenager made Katara's blood boil. Since she'd met him, her village had been attacked, her grandmother had been threatened by none other than the prince himself, her friend had been captured, she had been tied to a tree and attacked by pirates, and their lives had been threatened on more occasions than she could even count.

She harbored a loathing for him that was extremely deep, and she hated feeling that way because she knew it was wrong. Unfortunately, the fact that she disliked Zuko so much only made Katara hate Zuko more.

Katara was so consumed in her thoughts that she almost didn't notice when a man gently pulled her off the Shirshu and slowly took her below deck to a small cell.

The man carefully placed Katara on a cot which was pretty much the only piece of furniture in the enclosed space.

Then, the man stepped out of the cell and locked it. He then sat down on a stool across from the cell and sent her an apologetic glance—he then looked down as if he was actually ashamed of what he was doing.

Katara tried to furrow her eyebrows, but she couldn't because she was still paralyzed by the Shirshu. She mentally swore. 'Why that droning fen-sucked joithea—,' she was cut off from her thoughts when the fire nation soldier cleared his throat.

She moved her eyes to look at him. When she did see him, she would have gasped if she could have. He actually looked…like a normal human being.

Every time Katara thought of the Fire Nation, she always saw a cold hearted army with no warmth, humor, or love. But this man was different. There was a twinkle in his beautiful chocolate brown eyes that seemed to make the atmosphere ten times brighter. He also had a smooth, tan complexion—he sort of looked like he was from the southern water tribe himself. But Katara quickly smothered the thought from her mind. 'That's impossible…' she said to herself.

The man also was very muscular, but it was hard to tell due to the thick armor that he had covering his chest and arms. He looked as though he was about thirty years old, and he had a very welcoming persona.

Katara realized that she must have been looking at the man strangely because he had a bit of a sheepish look on his face. She quickly straightened out her facial features to the best of her ability and did her best to smile at the man.

The man cleared his throat again and then spoke in a clear, strong, deep voice. "Hello Katara. I'm sorry I didn't introduce myself before, but strictly speaking, I'm not allowed to talk to you. I know I'm breaking Zuko's rules by doing this, but I feel like I need to apologize. I have absolutely no idea what the young prince is planning, but it doesn't seem like he's up to any good. You must understand that he's very confused and that he's just trying to sort out his life. I'm very close friends with his uncle Iroh, and I imagine you'll like him as well." He smiled warmly at Katara, and she couldn't help from feeling comforted by this odd man.

The soldier sighed. "Anyway, I wanted to apologize for whatever he may do to you in the future. Like I said, he's confused, and he isn't thinking straight. That would explain why you're paralyzed. Zuko is taking care of getting the ship started now, but he will be back soon, and I'm sad to say you'll probably have to deal with him. I also wanted to let you know that I'm looking out for you, Iroh. We believe Zuko has been planning your capture for quite a while now, and we both will do our best to protect you from whatever may be coming. If you ever need anything, just let either of us know, and we'll be there for you." He stood up and stretched.

"Oh! I almost forgot to tell you that you should be getting control of your body back soon. The paralysis only lasts about an hour, so you can probably move now," the man said.

Katara tried to move her arm. This time, it actually moved when her brain told it to do so. She smiled at the man and then tested out her voice.

"What's your name?" she asked the soldier quietly.

"Ling," the man said.

Katara smiled. "Thank you Ling. Thank you for everything. I truly do appreciate it," Katara said.

And with that, Ling smiled, turned to the door, opened it, and left.

Zuko stood on the deck of the ship as he watched the docks of the village slowly move away from his line of vision.

He saw his uncle come up beside him, and he sighed. Zuko assumed that he had just come back from paying the bounty hunter. "Hello Uncle," Zuko said softly. He felt a hand on his shoulder and resisted the urge to shrug it off.

"Hello Nephew," Iroh said in response to Zuko's greeting. Zuko rolled his eyes.

"Okay uncle. Let's cut to the chase, shall we? What do you want to tell me?" Zuko asked pointedly.

His uncle gave him an innocent look. "I have no idea what you're talking about Prince Zuko. Would you care to join me for a game of Pai Sho?" Iroh asked happily.

Zuko felt his temperature slowly rise. He huffed steam out of his nose and then threw a ball of fire out into the ocean.

"Uncle, how many times have I told you? We do not have time for Pai Sho! We have to focus on capturing the avatar! I don't even understand how you can possibly even _think_ about playing a _game _when we are so close to finding the avatar!" Zuko ranted.

Iroh sighed and gave his nephew a grave look. "How close are we Zuko?" Zuko opened his mouth to reply, but his uncle held up a hand silencing him.

"You have no idea what you're going to do after you capture the avatar, and you don't even know that the avatar will come after the poor water bender!" Iroh continued.

Zuko rubbed his one good eye and exhaled. "Uncle, I'm going to the Fire Nation after I capture the avatar, and I truly believe that the avatar will come looking for the water tribe peasant. They're sort of a couple, right? Why wouldn't he come and rescue his girlfriend?" Zuko asked his elderly uncle.

"Zuko, the avatar is a driven young man much like yourself. You both will stop at nothing to get what you want. The avatar is driven to defeat your father while you are driven to regain your honor. You can't tell me that you didn't leave anyone behind in the Fire Nation after you were banished, can you Zuko?" Iroh asked.

Zuko groaned. "For the last time uncle, I did NOT have a girlfriend when I left the fire nation!" he said hotly.

"I'm well aware nephew. But I'm sure that you left behind someone that you cared about. Mai perhaps?" Iroh asked in an innocent voice.

Zuko felt his cheeks heat up at the thought of the fire nation noblewoman. Iroh smirked. "I thought so…" he said underneath his breath.

"Okay. Fine. Let's just suppose that I did like Mai to spare ourselves an argument. What exactly does that have to do with the avatar?" Zuko asked.

"Well, you were willing to leave your nation and someone you care about to regain your destiny, yes? I am confident that the avatar would do the same if the thing that he lived for depended on it. Not to mention the fact that he doesn't want to be captured by a certain fire nation prince. It is unclear whether or not he will come and save the girl," Iroh finished.

Zuko scowled. "I suppose we'll just have to wait and see, won't we Uncle?" he said while doing his best to keep his temper in check.

"There is no need to get upset Zuko. I am merely saying that you should plan ahead in the event that something should happen that you don't expect. Life can be unpredictable, and you never know when it will surprise you. But you must be ready to defend the things you care about in the process. Please don't behave rashly," Iroh pleaded.

"I will do my best uncle. Thank you very much for your advice," Zuko said. He gave a slight bow toward his fire bending teacher. He then walked across the deck towards steps that led to the brig. He had a prisoner that he needed to speak with, and there was nothing that could possibly stand in his way.

A/N: So there it is! If you have any ideas, please let me know and I will try to include them. Hope you all liked it! Please review! I hope I'll be able to update soon! Thanks for reading!


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